Divinity 2: What makes it special

January 26th, 2011, 22:23

Divinity 2, in all its iterations, has one thing that makes it stand out against most other crpgs and that's the inclusion of secrets. Secrets abound in this game and they come at you in a couple ways.

The first is the mind-reading skill. At the cost of future xp gains, you can choose the read the mind of anyone. I can't really any mainstream crpg to ever use this mechanic to such a degree. There are many times where you read someone's mind, and even if it isn't useful it's amusing.

The second is in hiding buttons, levers, and secret walls all over the place. In most cases, finding the secret door is not necessary to advance the game, but it will give you bonus items or information that will make progress easier. It is VERY easy to miss some of this stuff and makes replaying the game still have a chance of finding something new.

I'm not a big fan of platform jumping or aerial combat, but the previous two items more than outweigh these little niggles. Some folks will love the jumping and flying stuff.

If you haven't purchased Divinity 2 yet, I'd highly suggest grabbing a copy. Dragon Knight Saga will give you the most bang for the buck, as it includes the expansion, Flames of Vengeance and some graphic upgrades. Xbox users may want to wait another week or two because there is a patch getting finalized for the 360 that addresses a game-killing bug. It's rare, but deadly.